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HELLO,

and welcome to my page.

 

I am a Christian and a Principal Game Designer, Producer, and Writer.

 

I have been working for over 25 years in the game industry. Along with my teams, I have successfully developed and published more than 25 titles, including the award-winning AAA RPG Drakensang, the Action-RPG Drakensang Online, and the NBA Playgrounds series.

 

I develop games for PCs and consoles.


In 2015, I published the Game Narrative Toolbox with FocalPress, co-authored by Ann Lemay, Toiya K. Finley, and Jennifer Hepler. A second edition was released in 2023. I also published the sequel in 2019, The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox.

My passion is developing games, bringing great experiences to players, and inviting them into fantastical worlds. I believe in Gameplay First and that great games are made by great teams, not by individuals.

Expertise:

Narrative Design

Level Design

Game Production

Writing

System Design

Training & Recruitment

Mentoring

Unreal Engine 4/5

 

Website:

www.theussner.com

 

Phone:

+1 786-368-2535

 

Email: 

tobias@theussner.com

 

 

Social links:

  • Twitter - Grey Circle
  • LinkedIn - Grey Circle

TESTIMONIALS

 

"Tobias has been an outstanding speaker for us at the Game Narrative Summit at GDC Online (a.k.a. Austin) on multiple occasions, always displaying a thorough mastery of his craft and the subject of his session. Most recently he brainstormed, with Toiya Kristen Finley and (minimal) oversight from me, a brand-new addition to the summit: a day of tutorial sessions for new and aspiring game writers and narrative designers, taught by the two of them and several other distinguished names in our field. It was an inspired idea, and Tobias and Toiya are the ones who hatched it and made it a reality. I have tremendous respect for Tobias as a colleague and a friend; anyone who hires him is getting one of the keenest minds in our discipline."

 

Tom Abernathy, Studio Narrative Director ArenaNet LLC

 

 

"Tobias has proven himself an excellent leader of the IGDA Writers SIG, and I've been pleased to serve with him on the SIG's board. He works hard to further the SIG's interests and to deal with its prickliest personalities to ensure that we have an educational, informative, and progressive organization dedicated to bettering the careers of its members."

 

Matt Forbeck, Award-winning Author & Game Designer

RECENT PROJECT

 

My last release was the Switch version of Aliens: Fireteam Elite.

Currently, I'm working as Senior Producer on a new, unannounced project. I like to improve my game design, prototyping, and Unreal Engine 5 skills.

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